I have a lot to be thankful for in my life.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things that can improve. There are situations in my life that I wish were drastically different. Even with all that however, I am thankful for so much and I pray that this Thanksgiving affords you the opportunity to reflect on how thankful you can be with your life as it is currently.

I hope that you have found the saving knowledge of Jesus. He is the Son of God and he has redeemed us from an eternity of separation from our creator and the one true God. Even with the sinful nature that we were born with, the propensity to sin and sway away from what we know is right, we can be / have been reconciled once again and have the chance to grow in a relationship with God and to one day live with Him in paradise forever! That is definitely something to be thankful about!

I am personally thankful for my family. My parents brought me up in church and did their best to make sure that I knew the spiritual paths and the choices that lay before me in life. I’m thankful that they were an example of living life with the intention of glorifying God, all while exemplifying a godly marriage as well. I’m thankful for my sister who loves me and with whom I share so many of my memories growing up. We both made it through to adulthood somehow! (even though it still feels like we’re kids at times)

I’m especially thankful for my wife! I am sure that there are many people who have gotten married and have looked over at their spouse and thought, “Wow. I can’t believe that I’m as lucky as I am. I don’t deserve to be with this person and to feel this happy.” Well, to all those people, you aren’t as lucky as me. I’m sorry but it’s the truth. My wife, Alina, has been such a huge blessing in my life. She loves me so tremendously and makes her love for me so very well known. She loves to see me happy, which means that I get to enjoy her cooking and her wonderful baking prowess often (eating her food is one of the things that makes me the happiest, lol). She is absolutely gorgeous and somehow becomes MORE attractive over time. She helps to build me up in the faith, whether it be through a much needed correction or through some comfort and encouragement. She is one of the most God-fearing women that I know, and she loves to help and encourage others in their walk with Jesus. On top of all that, she is FUN to be with. We laugh constantly and we simply have a blast together! Living life with someone like this is truly a blessing and something I hope to always be thankful for. There aren’t enough words for how blessed I feel to be married to such an incredible woman.

To my gamer friends out there, we can be thankful for the sheer number of games that are available this year, and the myriad ways that we can play them! Maybe you have the ultimate gaming PC [looking for 60+ FPS while maintaining 4K visuals and tracing every possible Ray]. Or maybe you are like me – living in a console world where the major question becomes, should we go for the mid-Generation (PRO/One X) upgrade, or stick to the base/slim models we currently have. Maybe you are still trying to complete that backlog of games on last-gen systems & handhelds, and are playing as much as you can before Black Friday so that you can finally upgrade to the current-generation of consoles – before the current-gen becomes last-gen! (Did that make sense?) Wherever you land, what a great time to be a “gamer”.

We’ve received some great titles this year. Allow me a minute to breakdown just some of this year’s top-rated games for you:

The cold winter months of January & February had: Resident Evil 2 Remake & Kingdom Hearts III, baseball franchise MLB The Show ’19, as well as surprise games Slay the Spire, Wargroove, Apex Legends, & Tetris 99.

The spring months of March, April & May added titles like: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Tom Clancy’s: The Division 2, Mortal Kombat 11, cool indie-game Katana Zero, and a bunch of Final Fantasy games moving to Switch as well as Cuphead on Switch.

June both ended the spring & started the summer with: Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Samurai Showdown, Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer, and Super Mario Maker 2.

July & August really scorched things up with: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers expansion, FIFA 20, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Control, Astral Chain, and the release of the indie-game Knights and Bikes.

Autumn/ Fall/Gaming Season. September started it off: Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, GEARS 5, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, also Dragon Quest XI: S on Switch, & some surprises: Untitled Goose Game, & River City Girls.

October add both spooky & non-spooky games like: cult-hits Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, and indie-game Indivisible, as well as bigger games – The Outer Worlds, Concrete Genie, Medievil, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, & Luigi’s Mansion 3.

November has inundated us with Mega-Hits such as: Death Stranding, Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, & Sid Meier’s: Civilization VI.

December as history suggests should help us slowdown. Here’s what I see is coming, as we head back into winter: Wattam, Halo Reach Remastered, Arise: A Simple Story, Ancestors: Humankind Odyssey, & my personal favorite, the Shovel Knight: King of Cards expansion.

So, this Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful for whatever it is you have in your life. Don’t focus on what you don’t have (or what you weren’t able to play this year) but rather look at the awesome things that God has blessed you with in your life and thank Him for it all. It might be easier to see what you’re missing, but you’re happier when you acknowledge what you already have.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)